processing.js

I’d been hearing about Processing for quite a while. Apparently, it’s the grown-ups Logo. Which is to say, where Logo was fun and educational, Processing is fun and for artists.

I miss Logo.

But, yesterday I “officially” started reading The New Turing Omnibus. The very first chapter is about the description of algorithms. High-level vs. low-level. Recipies vs. instructions. Yadda vs. blah blah.

More importantly, the algorithm used for demonstration purposes is graphical:

WALLPAPER

inputcorna, cornb

inputside

fori ← 1 to 100

forj ← 1 to 100

x ← corna + i × side/100

y ← cornb + j × side/100

c ← int(x2 + y2)

ifceven

thenplot(i, j)

This wouldn’t normally excite me. But, the following page had a figure (1.2) of an “algorithmic wallpaper.”

IT WAS COOL SHIT.

I started reminiscing about the days when my programs made cool shit appear on screen. And programming environments were judged on how they could make it happen. Logo? Awesome. BASIC? Yeah, ok. C? Potentially the best thing ever!

Putting cool shit on screen was almost a requirement. And it hasn’t died: